Economic Distress Index
Key Insights
Eleven of the 27 counties in the South Kansas Region fall within the fourth quartile (i.e., most distressed) of the index for all Kansas counties.
Only five of the 27 counties in the South Kansas Region fall within the first quartile (i.e., least distressed) of the index for all Kansas counties.
Chautauqua County is the most distressed county in Kansas (and the South Kansas Region).
Miami County is the least distressed county in the South Kansas Region.
Methodology
The index combines seven indicators into a single, comparative measure of economic well-being. The index is constructed from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS) 5-Year Estimates and County Business Patterns (CBP) datasets. Figure 1 contains the seven indicators along with their descriptions and sources.
These seven indicators are individually normalized across 105 counties on a scale of 0 to 100, where 100 represents the most distressed county and 0 represents the least distressed county. The individual indicators are normalized using the following formula:
\[\text{Index Indicator}_{ij} = \frac{X_{ij}-\text{min}_{(\text{of } 105)}\{X_i\}}{\text{max}_{(\text{of } 105)}\{X_i\}-\text{min}_{(\text{of } 105)}\{X_i\}} \times 100, \]
where 𝑋𝑖𝑗 is the value of indicator 𝑖 for county 𝑗.
In most cases, higher values represent greater distress; however, for the median income ratio, change in employment, and change in establishments, lower values indicate greater distress. Therefore, normalization requires a slightly different formula:
\[\text{Index Indicator}_{ij} = \frac{\text{max}_{(\text{of } 105)}\{X_i\}-X_{ij}}{\text{max}_{(\text{of } 105)}\{X_i\}-\text{min}_{(\text{of } 105)}\{X_i\}} \times 100. \]
The final index value results from taking the geometric mean of the seven indicators. To handle the zeros, one is added to each normalized indicator; therefore, one is then subtracted from the calculated mean.
Results
**Note:** The borders of the counties in the South Kansas Coaltion are highlighted in the map below.